“I cannot take it anymore.” I am sure everyone who spends any significant amount of time on social media has said that at some point. Whether it was when another pop celebrity died or the outcome of some worldwide sports event, the constant chatter of something that you are not remotely interested in becomes deafening. This was the situation I found myself in the past couple of weeks.

Let me emphasize something: I enjoy politics. Some days I think it matters, most I don’t, but I do enjoy the game. The more I learn about politics, the more I understand compromise. No one side gets what they want without giving something up. This is both healthy and balancing. What I have come to despise are elections. The chatter has become too much.

“Oh, Adam, stop you’re whinning. Just becuase your man isn’t winning, you have to take your ball and go home.”

Let me stop you there. My man hasn’t been “winning” for a long time. I don’t know if I have any “man” in sight. This has nothing to do with the President or his opponent, personally. What bothers me is the desesnsitivity that social media contains. No where can you find respect and understanding. Sure, the country is polarized and at odds politically, but whatever happened to civility?

The amateur political commentary represents the degeneration of our society. People are so blinded by their right to share that there is little reflection into their own political party or the way their opinion is communicated. I’ll give you some examples.

Many of my conservative friends have convinced themselves that Mitt Romney is a good representation of conservatism. If anyone really thinks that, they would not have to go too far back to find evidence that contradicts them. Romney literally wrote the book on some of the exact things that Obama is doing now in this country. And yet because he anti-Obama, he is the new, hot conservative voice.

Moreover, I see Romney being propped up in some uncomfortable god-like position that conservatives have accused liberals of doing with President Obama. No politician can save our world. Not even Ronald Regan himself. I know, I am sure I just lost some of you guys…

Many of my conservative friends are followers of Jesus. I can assure you Jesus intended us to be much meeker more polite than we are acting. Maybe I am missing the tone completely, but given that I agree with more than not of the conservative movement, I am still taken aback with the amount of perceive hope we are placing in a political party…

Believe it or not, I have liberal friends as well. Many are also followers of Jesus, some are not at all. It has also become exhausting seeing the jabbing, sarcastic comments about this speech or that rally. This really hit me during the RNC. I saw conservatives now proud to be Americans because of Mitt and liberals equating the RNC to a megachurch love-fest of over 60 white people. Was the DNC any different? Was it any less cheesy to see former governor Granholm come close to ripping off her sleeves in her best Hulk Hogan/Howard Dean impression? Did we expect the VP say anything but that the President is his hero or that the first lady thinks he hates his family or the country?

It was equally cheesy and uncomfortable if you don’t agree with it. I hate JJ Redick. He was a punk when he played for Duke. He always had some head-shake or hanging hand after every shot. I hated it more becuase he played for Duke. I am sure Duke fans loved it. To me he was a punk. Probably a lot like Rasheed Wallace was to Duke fans. If liberals think that DNC was anymore sincere than the RNC or the RNC was any more cheesy than the DNC, they are sadly mistaken and senseless.

But whatever happened to civility? Why can’t we have an opinion without degrading everyone without that opinion? Am I missing something? Am I just making this up and in reality I am being too sensitive? Maybe. But I can tell you, my time is too precious to read amateur, dividing political commentary. My son loves to read Goodnight Moon. We read it over and over and over. We talk about when I met his mother and how much God loves him and created him to be a reflection of God’s love and grace. He’s learned how to say “Jesus loves me” and he know it’s true. Those are things that I want to fill my time with.

I am not done with social media, elections, or debate. But for right now I am turning off so I can tune in to my family and my heart. Maybe after that I will be better equipped to handle incivility, especially if this is the new reality.

Everytime I watch this clip from Seinfeld, I smile. You never know how George is going to react in any given situation. This is no exception!

I am proud to announce that Krista and I are taking our talents to South Beach….oh wait. That’s been taken.

We are here to announce an exploritory committee for a presidential bid. Too late?

We are proud to announce the arrival of Flight 6004 to Split, Croatia. Actually that will be Wes and Glady’s announcement in a few weeks.

I guess I should just rip off the bandaid and say, Xavier will have to make way for a new car!!!!!

Ok, enough. We’re having another kid. We found out this weekend and have taken the time to tell some of our family and friends here. Since we have been going nonstop all week from 8am to 8pm with our Education Interaction Team, we have not had the proper time to tell everyone. So forgive us if this is the way you are finding out. Krista just told me a few minutes ago…

We will share details as they emerge. For now we are teaching Xavier to respond to brother and periodically snatching things from his hands in preparation of a new sibling. We are thankful for another chance to raise a kid and are praying for a smooth pregnancy in the midst of the work that we do here. Balancing several things just got even more complicated!

Earlier this week we decided to get out of snowy Livno and head to Split, Croatia for the day. And it dawned on us: let’s go see a movie. As a family. With Xavier.

We found an early movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks, for about $3 a seat. Our expectations were low, but so were the ticket prices. We really didn’t know what to expect.

However, as usual, Xavier surprised us. With the exception of a few trips up and down the empty theater’s steps, he chilled and watch the Chipmunks dubbed in Croatian.

You can definitely tell he is an only child when we document things like “first trip to the theater.” There was one other family there doing the same, so we didn’t feel so silly! Here are some pics and videos.

In the last couple of days I have read post after post about Whitney Houston. Some point out her numerous flaws, struggles, and addictions and end with something about her being a waste of talent because of those things. Others seem to ignore her skeletons and celebrate only her achievements and talents, leaving no room to learn from her mistakes.

I am stuck.

What is the proper respnse in death?

Do we make note of the flaws or do we ignore them to celebrate the life. Whitney was a mixed bag for sure because she had obvious feet in both camps. A wonderfully talented singer that encased her life in drugs, depression, and whatever you want to call the relationship with Bobby Brown.

I guess something else comes with this question and that is how do you want to be remembered. We are all clearly flawed. In death would you want others to learn from you (flaws as well as sucesses) or simply celebrate the life you did make for yourself?

In the last couple of days I have read post after post about Whitney Houston. Some point out her numerous flaws, struggles, and addictions and end with something about her being a waste of talent because of those things. Others seem to ignore her skeletons and celebrate only her achievements and talents, leaving no room to learn from her mistakes.

I am stuck.

What is the proper respnse in death?

Do we make note of the flaws or do we ignore them to celebrate the life. Whitney was a mixed bag for sure because she had obvious feet in both camps. A wonderfully talented singer that encased her life in drugs, depression, and whatever you want to call the relationship with Bobby Brown.

I guess something else comes with this question and that is how do you want to be remembered. We are all clearly flawed. In death would you want others to learn from you (flaws as well as sucesses) or simply celebrate the life you did make for yourself?